Steven Saus injects people with radioactivity as his day job, but only to serve the forces of good. His work has appeared in multiple anthologies and magazines both online and off. He also publishes as Alliteration Ink. You can find him at stevensaus.com and alliterationink.com.

Published

Review: Inside Monastic Walls by Chante McCoy

This is a review of a story in The Crimson Pact: Volume One. While I am the publisher of the book, I do not have a story in the text. I’ve also worked to keep all of these reviews as impartial as possible; I hope you agree.

If you wish to check out The Crimson Pact, stop by its website at http://thecrimsonpact.com. While it’s only currently available in digital formats, if you have a computer, you can read this book. Not only is there a PDF version at the website, but you can read it on a free desktop reader from Barnes & Noble or Amazon. “Inside Monastic Walls” by Chanté McCoy is the first flash work in The Crimson Pact. It’s going to be a bit of a tough job reviewing them, as flash fiction is typically defined as 1000 words or less, and these reviews have been around 250-400 words themselves!

“Inside Monastic Walls” takes us away from warriors, and instead shows us the viewpoint of a young servant boy in an ancient monastery. Everything is fine, until…

Well, you’ll have to read it.

I scanned over many of the flash fiction works for this volume, and would occasionally make a small note to Paul Genesse, the editor, should I have had a strong impression about one. This story was sent to Paul with the note “You want to buy this story.” It’s that good, that creepy, and that disturbing… without resorting to cheap visceral tricks. It has the punch that good flash fiction is supposed to have, and lets you know that you’re in for a hell of a ride.